The Dog that Nino Didn't Have

Library Thing has been awesome about sending me books to review!  This is the book that I "won" in August.

It is the story of Nino - a boy who wants a dog so badly, he creates an imaginary one.  He loves his imaginary dog and has many adventures with his scruffy companion.  Nino really misses his dad - who is far away - and his imaginary dog helps him cope with his sadness.  But then one day - surprise! Nino is given a real dog - A dog that is "soft and sweet and obedient and naughty and small" -- and everyone can see it! His new dog does not do the things his imaginary dog did - but they still have wonderful adventures.  And Nino decides to use his imagination to create other imaginary animal friends. 

This book was originally written in Flemish by the Belgian author Edward van de Vendel. It was illustrated by Anton Van Hertbruggen. As you might be able to tell from the cover, the illustrations are on the dark side of the color spectrum - lots of forest greens and browns and other earth tones - so it is not as bright as some picture books. But the colors do help  convey the tone of the book rather well.  The book is also large - about 10" wide by 13" tall.  If the final published copy is the same size as the proof copy I received - larger books sometimes create interesting shelving dilemmas.  

I think this book would be great to use with the K-2nd grade crowd.  It could be paired with Santat's "The Adventures of Beekle" and Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are". For older children, it might be used with Applegate's "Crenshaw" to expand on the concept of imaginary friends.  I think this would be a good addition to a school or public library though it would need to be marketed well or incorporated into classroom use. There's a lot to discuss - Where is Nino's dad?  Where do he and his mom live? What imaginary pets would you create?

Thanks to Eerdmans and Library Thing for providing me a copy to review!